The best course

I'm excited about Thanksgiving. I think its my favorite holiday. It doesn't involve anything but getting together, eating, drinking and having a good time. The first set of winter holidays after Thomas and I started dating, my family, all eleven of us, was invited to Thomas's parents' home. Pauline put on a huge meal for over twenty people serving all sorts of wonderful dishes I had never tried before. She had parsnips, leeks and little tiny onions in a fabulous gravy. We were stuffed to the gills and well beyond sated. Then she brought out the desserts. Wow! Pauline likes to put on a holiday just so she can make dessert, and more dessert and more dessert. There was apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate mousse, Russian cream and more. My family was dumbfounded with the number of sweet selections we had to choose from that day.

This Thanksgiving, I am not making the meal, hooray! We have been invited to my cousin's home in Orange County. When the invitation came in I quickly replied, "Sure! We'll bring dessert!"

I'm doing Thanksgiving 'Pauline style.' After all these years I now have a collection of my favorite recipes, my mom's pumpkin pie, Pauline's Russian cream and chocolate mousse. I am also going to try a new apple pie recipe, fresh crust and all.

Below is Pauline's famous chocolate mousse. It's an easy recipe, only six ingredients and so delicious. (My brother tried to horde the bowl all for himself on that Thanksgiving day nine years ago. I think he succeeded too, I have a very vivid picture in my mind of him clutching it tightly to his chest and giving other diners an evil glare.) Really you should try it. It's awesome.

Pauline's Famous Chocolate Mousse
8 oz semisweet chocolate
1/4 c butter
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c sugar
1 c whipping cream, whipped

In a medium saucepan over very low heat, melt butter and chocolate stirring constantly. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, combine 4 yolks and vanilla. Using wire whisk gradually add the chocolate to yolks blending well. In a small bowl, beat 4 egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into chocolate. Fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

That's 72 to be exact

Of the things I miss most from Pennsylvania, pierogies are number two. (Tastykake Kandy Kakes are number one.) Have you ever heard of the wonderful fried treats called pierogies? That's what I thought. Pierogies are a delightful Hungarian potato dough dumpling filled with fluffy mashed potatoes, boiled then deep fried. I then enjoy them salted and carefully drizzled with ketchup.

We have tried to find them in California, but nobody knows what we're talking about when we ask. We then commence the story about how our favorite hot dog restaurant, Yocco's, offers these little fried bites of heaven, and oh how we're craving them. We just can't go on living without them. Yocco's sells the Doggie Pac which includes a dozen dogs, buns and all the fixings. My dad has been keeping us filled with Yocco's dogs for the last few years by air mailing a Doggie Pac on Thomas's birthday or whenever he thinks Thomas has a hankering. Yocco's does not, unfortunately for us, package their pierogies!

A few days ago, I received a cryptic email from my dad. "Expect a package on Thursday." We speculated what it could be, one can never be too sure when dealing with my family. We waited and pondered some more.

Thursday came and here's what arrived:

Pierogies! Six DOZEN pierogies to be exact. He split the order into different varieties sending us potato and cheese, plain cheese, and potato and onion. I dropped a dozen in the fryer and they turned out perfectly!

: :: ::: :: :

Millie's Pierogi, get some for yourself, here.

Late night snack

Last week I picked up an issue of Fine Cooking magazine that had arrived a few months ago. At the time of its arrival all mail that was not incredibly important or ridiculously threatening went into a large pile in some hidden corner of my house. So now I have started going through all the back mail and life that had been put on hold while we planned for our wedding.

I discovered a recipe that is sure to be a household if not family favorite. Lemon cheesecake topped with, an already family favorite, lemon curd.

It was easy to make, not messy, no cheesecake water bath, fast, and best of all... delicious.

Baking, one of my favorite things

Well, making a mess is one of my favorite things so therefore baking fits right in to my life. Somehow, though I manage to dirty every surface of the kitchen whenever I bake. I don't mean a little flour here and there, I mean every mixing bowl, every measuring implement, the mixer, blender and oven. It is an amazing skill that I am honored to posses. My husband thinks otherwise.

I think Susie Ghahremani is one of the best illustrators I've seen in a while, and I'm going to pick up some of these to inspire me to make even more fabulous messes in the kitchen.